Return of Mount Hua Sect - Chapter 641
Puuuk!
With the sound of something breaking, blood splattered out of Heo Gong and fell.
Kwadang!
Heo Gong, laying on the ground, stared blankly at the sky before him. One side of the sky was turning red.
He couldn’t immediately understand what he was in. Why is he suddenly lying down and looking at the sky?
‘Did I fall down? How the hell?’
He even felt like he had lost his memory for a moment. What took away the odd sensation of his body floating in midair was a terrible pain in his left eye a moment later.
“Keuk…….”
Heo Gong finally remembered that Chung Myung’s elbow had struck his eye.
Duguen! Duguen!
‘Eyes….’
His vision was almost completely gone as if every blood vessel in his eyes had burst. Although he couldn’t confirm the injury, he could roughly guess how bad it was. His eyeball was probably swollen so he could barely open it.
However, no matter how severe the eye injury and the pain were, it was nothing compared to the psychological pain he was feeling now.
Udeuk.
Heo Gong’s fingernails scratched the ground of the stage.
As if all his cartilage had worn away, he somehow whipped his body, which rattled and refused to move, to stand up.
‘From the beginning…’
The goosebumps all over his body couldn’t calm down.
The sword suddenly appeared to have lengthened. However, that is impossible. A sword made of solid steel cannot extend like some soaked food.
There is only one possible explanation.
“……He fooled me.”
In the first place, experienced swordsmen survey their opponents during combat. Therefore, Chung Myung’s attack range and interval he thought were naturally measured and recognized during the confrontation.
The principle of Chung Myung deceiving Heo Gong is very simple.
He slightly bends the arm he is reaching out and adjusts the distance of the sword blade. He then ingrains the distance he has arbitrarily created into Heo Gong’s head. To the extent that Heo Gong is sure that Chung Myung’s sword will reach this far without the slightest doubt.
And then he changes the distance in an instant. Very casually and naturally.
So from Heo Gong’s point of view, it feels like the sword suddenly lengthened.
It’s a simple and trivial matter when you think about it.
However, is it possible to execute that trivial thing perfectly during a deadly sword fight with a swordsman of Heo Gong’s level while keeping him from noticing?
No, let’s say it is possible.
It’s still strange to deliberately downplay your ability to prepare for the following attack against an opponent you just met. Even a slight mistake could lead to death or serious injury, so why take such a risk during a battle?
‘Crazy…’
That is not an area of logic, but an area of madness.
This tactic becomes more effective as the opponent’s skill level is higher and the opponent quickly understands Chung Myung’s sword.
It’s absurd to think that this kind of thing, which relies on trusting the opponent, can be used as a tactic. What nonsense is this?
“Cough!”
His body jerked.
Nausea rose from his stomach.
It unfolded vividly before his eyes. Chung Myung’s sword flowed smoothly through Heo Gong’s force.
That was the strength possessed by the sword of Wudang.
“You….”
Standing up with his sword in hand, he saw Chung Myung staring at him. They are frighteningly cold, emotionless eyes. If it wasn’t for the blood around his mouth, he would have been mistaken for a painting, rather than a living person.….
“Don’t… joke with me! You little brat!”
The growling Heo Gong’s voice was filled with hatred and anger.
“How dare you… attack me with the sword of Wudangs?”
This is beyond disgrace.
It’s like a martial artist being punched by a swordsman or someone who has used a spear all his life being hit hard by someone who picked up a spear for the first time.
“You…….”
For him, who had learned Wudang’s sword, being hit with Wudang’s sword by the swordsman of Mount Hua Sect was the most unbearable humiliation.
“You did it on purpose…!”
The teeth that have been clenched to the fullest extent end up cracking.
Heo Gong’s eyes were now as if he was looking beyond just venom and at the mortal enemy. But Chung Myung, who received the gaze, was still cold.
Step.
Chung Myung, who stopped walking, looked straight at Heo Gong and opened his mouth.
“You seem to be mistaken about something.”
“…….”
“There’s no special meaning to me punching your face.”
“…shut up!”
Heo Gong screamed in a fit of rage. Chung Myung remained expressionless and simply looked at him.
“What a fool.”
A cold voice penetrated Heo Gong’s ear.
“From the moment you directed your killing intent at me, this match is no longer a sparring match. If it were a sparring match, then I would have just gone along with you. In a way you would have wished the match to be.”
“…….”
“But this is not a sparring match. This is a real fight. There is no such thing as your sword art or mine in a real fight. All that matters is who is left standing at the end.”
Heo Gong’s eyes trembled as he looked at Chung Myung.
Chung Myung asked mockingly.
“Is it hard for you to understand what a real fight is?”
“…….”
“Listen carefully, kid. From the moment you draw your sword to harm or kill your opponent… it is a war.”
“…….”
“In a war, weapons don’t matter. You steal your enemy’s sword, slit their throat, hide in between corpses while disguising yourself as dead, and stab it in the groin of a passing enemy.”
There was a clear sneer on Chung Myung’s face.
“Are you going to complain about why I took your sword and wielded it in war?”
“…….”
“Stop whining, you idiots.”
Heo Gong shuddered.
In order to win, anything goes.
It was something that even Heo Gong had heard countless times. He didn’t even think to distinguish what he should and shouldn’t do as a reputable Wudang.
However…
He had absolutely no understanding of what that ‘anything goes’ meant.
Amid exchanging blows with his opponent, he would desperately deceive them and use all available methods to drive his sword into the opponent’s body.
That… Isn’t it more like a struggle than a war?
Heo Gong’s sword edge began to tremble again. Then Chung Myung’s eyes sink as he looks at the trembling sword edge.
‘No matter how much I explain, it would be difficult to understand with just words.’
Forcing an inexperienced person to act like he had experienced it is a form of violence.
Heo Gong will understand that with his head. He must have heard it countless times. Wudang also experienced war. Wudang, called the prestigious, must have passed on to future generations what they had experienced in that terrible war in the past.
However, this cannot be understood in one’s head.
‘It is impossible to understand.’
Imagine waking up and suddenly being thrown into the battlefield when you were living an ordinary life.
Imagine someone who only understood the word ‘murder’ as a mere concept suddenly experiencing the chaotic sight of a person’s neck flying in front of them, and hot blood sticking to their entire body.
Will he be able to understand all that and adapt to the situation?
It can never be possible.
What is too obvious for Chung Myung is not for Heo Gong. It is impossible for even him, the Elder of Wudang, to understand the boundaries between life and death and Chung Myung.
The eyes with which Heo Gong looks at Chung Myung now are not much different from the gaze of his Sahyungje when they first encountered Magyo in the past. Chung Myung was well aware of the fear of seeing something beyond the realm of understanding.
‘It’s really fucked up.’
Heo Gong is looking at him with the eyes they used to look at Magyo. As if seeing Asura crawling out of hell.
But it doesn’t matter.
Of course, Chung Myung also knows that he is not necessarily right.
It is not necessary to know what war is. There is no need to understand how to fight like a beast, like Chung Myung.
But being strong is not necessarily good.
True strength does not come from wielding a sword.
If Chung Myung had seen such Heo Gong not too long ago, he wouldn’t have thought it was wrong even though he would have clicked his tongue.
If he didn’t know that Magyo was still baring their teeth toward Jungwon. And if he didn’t know that Heavenly Demon might be alive somewhere in the world.
“I look like a demon, don’t I?”
“…….”
“But the real demon hasn’t come yet.”
“…What do you mean?”
Chung Myung raises the corners of his mouth.
“We had to suffer without knowing anything back then. But at least now…… one person knows.”
Heo Gong’s eyes were stained with suspicion at the incomprehensible remark.
“So consider yourself lucky.”
After briefly glancing at Mount Hua’s disciples, Chung Myung soon turned to Wudang’s disciples beyond Heo Gong.
The edge of Chung Myung’s sword scratched the ground.
Clang!
The sound made the onlookers flinch..
“You have someone to tell you this time!”
Kuung!
Chung Myung charged toward Heo Gong as he kicked the ground.
“Keuk!”
Heo Gong clenched his teeth hard. He doesn’t understand what the monster in front of him is saying, but in the end, what he has to do is set.
‘If I hesitate, I’ll lose.”’
This had turned into a chaotic battle, and Heo Gong had no choice but to admit that there was no chance of winning in this mud pit fight where they showed their teeth and scratched at each other’s flesh.
For some reason, this guy was adept at fighting in a dogfight, as if he had experienced a thousand or even ten thousand battles.
If he stepped into that area, the outcome was already predetermined.
He had to lure the opponent into his familiar territory if he wanted to win.
Chung Myung’s age and generation were no longer in his mind. Since he faced an enigmatic being he had never met before, he had to be different from his past self.
Kwang!
Heo Gong’s foot slammed into the ground.
Not front, but back.
Retreating with the enemy in front of him was something that had never happened in his life. And using Wudang’s unique flowing water footwork movements, rather than simply avoiding the opponent’s attacks, was also almost a first for him.
Now was not the time to distinguish between right and wrong.
He had to put everything into avoiding the opponent’s sword and unleashing his own.
The Tao (도(道)) disappears at the end of the sword.
The posture (격(格)) collapses from the foot.
“Heuuaaappp!”
A tremendous sword energy exploded from the edge of his sword as he stepped back. It was like a sea driven mad by a typhoon, pushing and pushing again into the shore with violent waves.
Kwaaah!
At the same time, his sword emitted pure white energy like snow. The sight of the blue sword energy and the white energy mixing and crashing into each other was so magnificent and violent that it evoked images of a giant tidal wave (해일(海溢)) overflowing.
But Heo Gong had to watch.
He had to see the brilliant sword energy that emerged between the tidal waves that rose more than three times the usual.
Chwaaaak!
The tidal waves parted in two, and the world split. Chung Myung flipped his sword back and immediately lunged forward, reverse-gripping his sword as he entered the space cut by the sword’s energy.
Kaaang!
The sword he raised instinctively blocked Chung Myung’s sword right in front of his nose.
“Keuk!”
Although his left hand shot Ten-stage Brocade toward Chung Myung’s side, the latter neutralized his attack by pushing his sword down and lifting his body up.
Then.
Hwaaaak!
Countless red flowers bloomed over Heo Gong’s head.
Flower.
Seeing the flowers that could cover the entire sky in full bloom, Heo Gong swung his sword like he was having a seizure.
However.
‘This….’
No water can rise endlessly into the sky.
Even Heo Gong didn’t know this fact properly. His sword, following the natural law (순리(順理) i), failed to exert its full power the moment it went against the natural law.
‘This, this is….’
Amidst Heo Gong’s dying momentum, red petals danced like crazy through the sword’s path.
They jumped over, plunged, and ravaged the sword’s path as if it was being played.
Sogok!
His shoulder was cut, and blood poured out.
Sogok! Sogok!
His thigh was sliced open, and the sword pierced his side.
“Euaaaaa!”
Hwaaaak!
Dozens, hundreds of petals fell and ruthlessly swept over the fragile human body.